Am I Pretty?
by Charlie'sLostVampire
Summary: Flash-forward a few years, after Lewis and Franny start dating. A secret is revealed, and questions follow; questions Lewis isn't sure if he should answer.


Lewis had been fairly good at keeping his journey to the future a secret; he knew there could be consequences if he didn't. The time stream could alter again, and he'd already seen once what that could cause. It hadn't been that hard to keep the truth to himself, really; he didn't have that many people he could tell. Sure, there were his parents, but he didn't want to risk telling them for fear of it causing anything in their relationship, now and in the future, to change. There was also Goob, but he doubted his friend would want to know what a maniac he became. That only left Franny.

Franny hadn't been a problem for the first four years; they were just close friends during that time. He didn't feel wrong about not telling her that he'd technically met her before they even met at the science fair. It wasn't until they started dating, when he was seventeen and she was sixteen that problems started to arise. Was it wrong to keep the truth from her? Despite the consequences and what he knew he was protecting, Lewis still couldn't help feeling like he was lying to one of the most important people in his life. So he did something he'd vowed years ago he would never, _ever_ do; he told her.

It was a warm summer night, and the two of them were up on what would always be Lewis's favorite place; the roof. Of course it was a different roof now above an entirely different home, but he still loved the _idea_ of the roof. The fresh air and being up so high above the rest of the city helped him think, and Lewis did a lot of that; thinking. Thinking about inventions, his trip to the future and Franny. While the first two were fairly straight forward concepts and memories, Franny would forever be a mystery. Not that he minded; it gave him more excuses to think about her and try to figure her out like some difficult equation; only the solution was entirely unsolvable.

"You're doing it again," she stated, peering over at him with that inquisitive gaze, and Lewis blinked innocently.

"Doing what?"

"That face you make where you look guilty even though you've done nothing wrong."

She was right, of course; she was always right.

"That makes no sense, Fran," he interjected, going against the advice Franny had given him in the future despite his best intentions. He couldn't let her know just how right she really was. One of the problems that was becoming increasingly pressing was how perfectly observant she was.

"To me it doesn't, but to you I think it's a different story entirely. Tell me what's going on in that crazy head of yours."

He wanted to. It was eating him alive keeping such an enormous secret from her. But... "I can't."

"What do you mean, you can't?" she scoffed good-naturedly. "You can tell me anything, Lewis. You know that."

He did know that. He did normally tell her everything; but not this.

"No, Franny, I mean I really _can't_ tell you. Something bad could happen if I do."

She frowned at that, more out of confusion than frustration, shaking her head. "That's ridiculous, Lewis. Nothing bad ever came from talking about something."

It was adorable how innocent she really was.

"If only you knew just how wrong you are," he said with a weak laugh, and she frowned, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I'm never wrong," she stated, and he heaved a sigh, shaking his head. He wasn't sure how much more of this he could take; it felt like he was going to explode, keeping all of this to himself for so long, and Franny's constant pressing wasn't helping matters. The way he saw it, he had two options, both which were equally dangerous; tell Franny the truth, and risk it altering the future, or break up with Franny to stop the guilt, possibly destroying the entire future he'd witnessed years ago. That certainly wasn't an option. So...

"Four years ago, a few days before we met, I went to the future."

That sounded much more ridiculous out loud than it had inside his head, and surely enough Franny burst into laughter, rolling around on their picnic blanket as she giggled. "No, really; what's on your mind?"

"I'm serious," Lewis stated, shaking his head at her laughter. "Our- er... this kid, he took me to the future because his dad's time machine got stolen. There was this guy and..."

Groaning, Lewis shook his head. He sounded like a maniac. "I met you there," he stated, meeting her gaze as she watched him with clear amusement. "You were grown up and had a family; a _big_ family. And you finally figured out how to make your frogs sing!"

Sighing, Franny sat up, shaking her head. "Lewis, I gave up on that dream years ago. It's hopeless."

"Nothing is hopeless," he objected, shaking his head. "Success is overrated. You learn from your mistakes, and it makes success even better when you manage it. No matter what, you just have to... keep moving forward."

"So what? You don't think teaching frogs music is a little silly for high school?" she questioned, raising a skeptical eyebrow, and Lewis shook his head, tucking her dark hair behind her ear.

"Not at all. It's your dream, Franny; you can't give up on dreams. I've seen what they turn out to be."

She still didn't believe he'd really been to the future, but the little pep talk was still nice. Even if she'd said that silly little dream didn't matter to her anymore, somewhere in the back of her mind... it still did. Maybe Lewis wasn't crazy...

"Fine then, smart guy; tell me this. In the future... am I pretty?"

Pausing at her question, Lewis smiled a bit, thinking back to his time with the Robinsons and nodding, pressing his forehead to hers.

"You're absolutely beautiful."


End file.
